"Sometimes, in order for things to get better, they have to end – even if it's momentarily," she tells PEOPLE at the opening of Rebecca Taylor Boutique in Los Angeles. "And that was the case with us."

As far as Cavallari, 24, is concerned, the love between her and Cutler was always there, and the reason for the split is something that she and Cutler, 28, who's been sidelined this football season with a thumb injury, have worked through.